Preview

Maternity Leave Pros And Cons

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1214 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Maternity Leave Pros And Cons
Women’s Rights in the United States of America are not addressed enough. Women need to receive better rights in terms of maternity leave, pay inequality, and abuse. As a result of women not having enough maternity leave, they do not get to spend much time with their newborn. Many women are paid less than men, and it is difficult to support a family when you are not earning as much as you need. It is very important that women are treated as equally as men are. Around 300,00 women are raped every year, which causes emotional pain. Women do not receive the rights that they should in terms of maternity leave, pay inequality, and abuse, and there are many reasons why.

Maternity leave is a big issue. The USA government does not support paid parental leave.
…show more content…
This issue started when women began balancing work life vs home life. In 1993, the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) law was written that stated women received only 12 weeks of maternity leave. Currently, the U.S. government says it is up to the employer to provide paid maternity leave. Business organizations claim that payment of maternity benefits do not apply to them. They say it is a financial burden. No one wants to take responsibility to pay for maternity leave. Another issue that needs to be addressed is Gender Pay Inequality. Women all over America are affected by pay inequality. Women earn $0.79 for every dollar earned by men. Women are more likely to leave work for longer periods of time than men which indicates that women are punished for being wage earners and care givers. Women should be paid the same wages as men when they are working. In some states, such as Wyoming, women earn 64 cents for every dollar a man earns, and in Nevada, women get as high as 85 cents. Pay inequality started at the end of WWII when men came back into the work force and has been growing since the 1970s. The AAUW (American Association of University Women) believes pay equality is a matter of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the article, “Understanding Reproductive Justice: Transforming the Pro-Choice Movement,” the author, Loretta Ross, argues that while the pro-choice movement has achieved great strides in terms of acquiring and protecting legal abortion rights for women, it has done very little to address and/or challenge the structural inequalities that many women, especially women of color and lower class, have to face when simply trying to access and control their reproductive rights and destiny. Because of this, Loretta Ross proposes that we shift from using the term “pro-choice” when it comes to defining our movement to using a term that is more inclusive and representative of the realities that many non-white women have to face—this term being called “Reproductive Justice.” As was beautifully described in the beginning of her piece, Ross defines Reproductive Justice as being “the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, social, and economic well-being of women…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There can be many cons to taking a paid paternity leave, but in the long run the family will benefit from the father taking off that time at the beginning after a birth or adoption. The possibility of losing a job is a legitimate concern, but when the father returns to work it will be easier for the father to balance out the workplace and family. The other concern of social judgement is also understandable, but the choice to take that leave to be able to spend time with the child and spouse will ultimately benefit everyone in the situation. Paid paternity leave, when added to paid maternity leave, will have the ability to keep the family financially stable while the family recuperates to the new life of having a child.…

    • 131 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    benefits are equal pay for equal work, a tool for attracting and keeping the best…

    • 1616 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Advocates and policymakers have been calling out for paid family leave policies; some of these campaigns have seen recent successes. With the callings, a number of bills also have been introduced in the U.S. Congress that would expand the right to access family leave.…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’ Connor tells a bunch of events that happened in order. For an example, the story basically focuses on a series of events that is about a family’s road trip towards the south. The mother’s attitude is a bit rude and selfish. She does not want to go to Florida, so she tries to get her son to cancel the trip. She claims that Florida is a crime zone by saying “I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal loose in it.” To me, that sounds like an excuse and she is trying to start an argument with her son about it.…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The idea that women earn less than men in the work place is no longer a subject for debate. Study after study has shown that women earn less than their male counterparts. In 1998, for every dollar a man makes, a woman earns .73 cents (CNN, 2000). Since then it has gotten better but not by much. As of 2010 women earned .79 cents to every dollar earned by men. The gender wage gap is a statistical indicator used to show the status of women 's earnings relative to men 's. This nation, unfortunately, has a history of making gender inequality legal. Laws pass early in the 20th century showed that the view that many in the country did not believe that women could not do the same amount of work that men did. This gave way to wage disparity.…

    • 3284 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender Pay Gap

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages

    For decades now, there has been an ongoing pay gap amongst men and women. Some people say it is the woman’s choice and they made it that way, others say it is plain out sexism. To this day, there is still no definitive reason why, but the gap seems to close little by little each year. Can we contribute that to women standing up for themselves more, working harder to prove their worth, or even challenging the system? T.J. Billitteri wrote the article entitled Gender pay gap touching base on the important fact which is women working and sharing the same career title as a man are making far less money (March 14, 2008).CQ Researcher, 18, 241-264.Billitteri begins his article touching base on a large lawsuit of Ledbetter vs. Goodyear tire. Ledbetter, one of few females in her supervisory position, realized she was making $559.00 a month less than the males in the same position. She received around $3 million in back pay and damages. That case stirred up a lit of press on the pay gap issue and put emphasis on bills such as the Fair Pay Act. Recognized female state officials are pushing the enforcement of Fair Pay Acts and Equal Pay Acts more and more on Congress and the Senate still to this day. Billitteri (2008) states with those in effect men and women would have equal compensation when working in the same field. A prime example is a women working as a Chief Executive makes on average 22 percent of what a male Chief Executive makes. Looking at the 2006 U.S. Census statistics it showed “the pay gap at about 77 percent of the men’s median full-time, year-round earnings.” (Billitteri 2008). In Billitteris’ article he discusses how when hiring a female the company takes into account the possibilities for maternity leave, higher insurance needs, time off to care for children, and a raised risk for sexual harassment claims. It has become apparent that women are intimidated to seek out executive or other high paying positions…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maternity Leave Benefits

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Overall the decision by the United States to make paid maternity leave a necessity would help to work against the gender pay gap, prevent damage to new mothers, and the drop in birth rates amongst women in high paid positions. Along with these reasons are the moral reasons that come along with it and that we are one of only three other countries that do not protect maternal rights. Paid maternity leave is a necessity and should be considered an essential part of hiring any…

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Wage Gap Analysis

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Two landmark court cases served to strengthen and further define the Equal Pay Act: Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co. (1970), U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; Ruled that jobs need to be “substantially equal” nut not “identical” to fall under the protection of the Equal Pay Act. An employer cannot, for example, change the job titles of women workers in order to pay them less than men.; Corning Glass Works v. Brennan (1974) U.S. Supreme Court; Ruled that employers cannot justify paying women lower wages, because that is what they traditionally received under the “going market rate.” A wage differential occurring “simply because men would not work at the low rates paid women” was unacceptable. (“The Equal Pay Act”) While these things have caused the gap to narrow there is still s noticeable difference in the pay of…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I do not understand why we need another forty-five years to figure out that this is completely unjust. In her article “Unbinding Working Women In A "Bindersfull-Of-Women" Nation” Lily Hall describes the unfair treatment of women in the workplace when she recalled “American women make twenty-three percent less than American men. In fact, American women are paid less than their male counterparts directly upon entering the workforce…U.S. Congress has blocked the vote on the same gender equality bill three times over the past four years” (641). Hall goes on to explain that Congress believes that there are larger issues to resolve than equalling wages. For me, I do not see many other issues that affect nearly half of the country’s entire population. Similarly, in her essay "Limitations To Equality: Gender Stereotypes And Social Change." Sophie Smith also described the equal pay issue when she explained “women in management positions received lower basic salaries and bonuses than men in equivalent roles.…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Equal Pay Act of 1963

    • 1522 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Equal Pay Act of 1963Throughout history, women have been paid less than men have, even when employed in identical jobs. It was generally accepted in the United States that men deserved to earn more money than women do, even if their work was identical. The contemporary mindset was that men were the heads of the households and therefore were the primary income producer in their families. This, of course, was not always so. In many homes, the head of household and sole breadwinner was a woman, for various reasons, ranging from death or disability of a spouse to divorce or single parenthood (DfEE).…

    • 1522 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Equal Pay For Women

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Women work just as hard as men during their working hours. Women who worked hard for their education and job are treated unfairly with their wage. Almost all jobs for women pay less than what a man earns doing the same job. For instance, “In researching this issue at the Center for Gender Studies, we found only four occupational categories for which comparison data were available in which women earned even a little more than men: special education teachers, order clerks, electrical and electronic engineers and food preparation occupations (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)” (Lips 309-310). Many occupations for women do not offer equal or more pay than men receive. The opportunity for women to earn even a little more than men in equal positions is limited to four categories of occupations. Not all women want to fit themselves into those careers. More occupations should be available for women at equal pay of men. Women do not deserve to be paid less than men in equal positions. This is causing women to be upset because they believe even though they have the education, experience and deserve to succeed in the workplace, they face the challenge to receive the same wage as men do. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was a positive step forward for women in the workplace, but no major changes to benefit working women have been implemented since then. Another example states "It's been 51 years since the Equal Pay Act was passed, and women still aren't getting equal pay for equal work," says Lisa Maatz, vice president of government relations at the American Association of University Women. "The whole point of the Paycheck Fairness Act would have been to tighten up the gender pay gap"(Little). Equal pay has been a problem in the United States for a long time. Over the years, many have rallied to make it better for women in the workforce, but the…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Democratic Party has tried to bring equality to women in the workforce for years. They have attempted to pass the Equal Pay Legislation, but the Republican Party has blocked it three times. In April of 2014, President Obama signed an Executive Order to prevent workplace discrimination and empower workers to take control over negotiations regarding their pay. In addition, he signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Labor to require federal contractors to submit data on employee compensation by gender, helping employers take proactive efforts to ensure fair pay for their employees (“Norton”). Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is an avid supporter of providing equal pay for women. Clinton believes that unequal pay is not just a women’s issue, but also a family issue because a woman’s work can directly impact her children (Foley). To reduce the wage gap, she called for changes in federal law and incentives for states and localities to toughen their policies. This is already happening in California, where Democratic Governor Jerry Brown signed a law that would, among other measures, protect employees from retaliation for asking about or sharing information on pay (Foley). This in return allows women to talk about their concerns regarding their paychecks to their employers. Although this does not fix the gender…

    • 1615 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gender Wage Gap in America

    • 1549 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Two thousand ten, forty-three years since the first law to fight the gender wage gap. The Equal Pay Act was initiated during the Kennedy administration. Since then, the gender wage gap has been narrowing every year, but it still does exist in the United States. The gender wage gap is the difference between what women get paid and what men get paid for doing the same job. People have been trying to prove whether the gender wage gap is bad, or unimportant since before the first act was passed. In the 1963 the gender wage gap was a huge issue; women made only 63% of what men made in the same positions. As time has progressed, women now make on average 77% of what men make in the same position.…

    • 1549 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Over the past several decades, women have succeeded in conquering some of the barriers in the workplace. Equal pay has been the law since l963, but women are still paid less then men, even when they have similar education, skills, and experience. In 1998, women were only earning 73 cents for every dollar earned by men. Over a lifetime, this can add up to a loss of thousands of dollars. (www.aflcio.org/women/equalpay.htm)…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays